| Advisory opinion request as to whether the Code of Governmental Ethics permits Jeanne' Lynch to continue working for Southern Surveillance Company, while she is employed as a Care Connections Specialist with the Department of Child and Family Services. |
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Jeanne Lynch is employed by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services ("DCFS") as a Child Welfare Specialist III in Care Connections Licensing with the Child Welfare Division. In this position, Ms. Lynch certifies that prospective foster homes in the Orleans Region meet the required qualifications to house a child in need of foster care.
Ms. Lynch also works for Southern Surveillance Company LLC ("Southern Surveillance") as a Private Investigator. In this position, she conducts surveillance to investigate individuals for purposes such as insurance fraud, workers' compensation claims, infidelity, child custody disputes, or service of process.
Ms. Lynch states that she primarily performs services as a private investigator on weekends and as needed during the week after her DCFS work hours. She also states that Southern Surveillance does not have, and is not seeking to have, a contractual, business, or financial relationship with DCFS.
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La. R.S. 42:1111C(1)(a) prohibits a public servant from receiving any thing of economic value for any service, the subject matter of which is devoted substantially to the responsibilities, programs, or operations of the agency of the public servant and in which the public servant has participated.
La. R.S. 42:1111C(2) provides that no public servant and no legal entity in which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest in excess of twenty-five percent, shall receive any thing of economic value for or in consideration of services rendered, or to be rendered, to or for any person during his public service unless such services are: (a) Bona fide and actually performed by the public servant or by the entity; (b) Not within the course of his official duties; (c) Not prohibited by R.S. 42:1112 or by applicable laws or regulations governing nonpublic employment for such public servant; and (d) Neither performed for nor compensated by any person from whom such public servant would be prohibited by R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) or (B) from receiving a gift.
La. R.S. 42:1115A(1) prohibits public servants from soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly, any thing of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public servant knows or reasonably should know that such person has or is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial relationships with the public servant's agency.
La. R.S. 42:1115B prohibits public employees from soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly, any thing of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or from any officer, director, agent, or employee of such person, if such public servant knows or reasonably should know that such person conducts operations or activities which are regulated by the public employee's agency or has substantial economic interests which may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the public employee's official duty.
La. R.S. 42:1102(2)(a)(i) defines "agency" to mean a department, office, division, agency, commission, board, committee, or other organizational unit of a governmental entity. "Agency of the public servant" and "his agency" when used in reference to the agency of a public servant shall mean, for public servants in the twenty principal departments of the executive branch of state government, the office in which such public servant carries out his primary responsibilities.
La. R.S. 42:1102(17)(a) defines "public employee" to mean anyone, whether compensated or not, who is: (i) An administrative officer or official of a governmental entity who is not filling an elective office. (ii) Appointed by any elected official when acting in an official capacity, and the appointment is to a post or position wherein the appointee is to serve the governmental entity or an agency thereof, either as a member of an agency, or as an employee thereof. (iii) Engaged in the performance of a governmental function. (iv) Under the supervision or authority of an elected official or another employee of the governmental entity.
La. R.S. 42:1102(18) defines "public servant" to mean a public employee or an elected official.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Jessica Meiners |
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